Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi everyone! Ashley and I have been super busy this summer. Ashley has moved and gotten a dog! I have gone back to school! There's a lot going on these days, but in case you haven't noticed based on all my previous posts involving chocolate, I'm never too busy to make cookies.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rolled oats, regular or quick
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  

Instructions

First: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put rolled oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

Then: In another bowl, cream butter and sugars together with an electric mixer. Add vanilla, lemon juice and eggs and beat until fluffy.

Next: Stir the flour mixture into egg mixture until blended. Fold in the chocolate chips.  Use a spoon to help scoop round balls and place 2 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets.

Finally: Bake about 11-14 minutes. 

Link to the original recipe.

These were so delicious I forgot to take a picture before serving them. I think it's the oats and cinnamon together. Maybe the lemon juice? I have made these twice and the first time I put the oats through the food processor to make a fine powder out of it.  The second time I left them whole.  This changes the texture of the cookie for sure and mildly changed the taste of it. It somehow was less oat-y tasting when the oats were powdered. 

The only weird thing I experienced was that they didn't flatten as much as I expected. They turned out kind of thick and puffy.  So look out for that when rolling your cookies. You may want to flatten them with a fork or your thumb just a little before baking. Any advice about how to avoid this? I like my cookies less cake like generally. Have you ever tried chocolate chip cookies with cinnamon? With lemon juice? Give these a try and tell us what you think!

Dinner time!

Hey everyone! I apologize for my delay in posting. Our goal is 2 posts per week and I completely dropped the ball. Maybe the deliciousness of the recipe below will help you forgive me. Please?

Today's easy recipe requires very few ingredients and is very simple. I will say, though, that unlike other simple recipes we post, this is not one where you can pop it in the oven and forget about it until it's done. So maybe this is more of a medium difficulty recipe versus an easy recipe.  I found it on Martha Stewart's webpage. You can click the link to see her original recipe.

Ingredients:

4 Potatoes
1 lb. Asparagus
1 lb. Chicken (I used about 5 chicken tenderlions. You could also use chicken breast, chicken legs, or multiple parts of a whole chicken!)
Butter
1 Lemon
Thyme (fresh sprigs are preferable but I just used my dried kitchen spices.)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 475. Peel and quarter (cut into 4ths) potatoes, cut ends off of asparagus, slice lemon into wedges, thaw chicken.

Step 2: Layer potatoes and a small slice of butter in pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until potatoes are golden brown).

Step 3: Remove pan from oven. Add chicken over potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes (until chicken is golden brown).

Step 4: Remove pan from oven. Add asparagus, lemon wedges, and a small slice of butter over the chicken. Season with thyme. Cook for 5 to 15 minutes, or until asparagus is tender. Serve with butter and lemon juices from pan sprinkled on top.

This was delicious and very easy--my only dislike about this recipe is that it's more difficult to make while multi-tasking, since you have stop every 20 minutes to add the next layer of food.

Enjoy!